Some series just boil down to that old carnival sign on the wall in The John Laroquette Show: “This is a dark ride”. What a fascinating and subtle series Ping Pong is. There aren’t many series about which I would use the term “deep”, but this one is – there […] Read more
I suppose I’d consider that a bullet dodged. Given the last few seconds of last week’s otherwise solid episode of Hitsugi no Chaika, I was seriously worried about where the series might be headed (much as I am about Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii and Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou, and for […] Read more
Well, damn – I hardly know where to start with that one… This is a snippet of what I wrote two weeks ago, after the blooming of the miniature rose: I’m very, very reluctant to try and dig into the deeper meaning of what we saw… It will simply invite […] Read more
Enter the dragon. Well – the freak, anyway. Way back in the Fall Preview post I said of Yowamushi Pedal that “There’s everything here that should make a series appealing to a broad audience – it just happens to be sports-themed.”, and after watching a few episodes, in the Check-in […] Read more
Seki-kun wins! Kanojo ga Flag o Oraretara – 05 The phrase that leaps to mind for Gawoware is “curiously compelling”. Surely, this is one of the strangest series of the year. That’s not enough to make a show worthwhile on its own, obviously, but it is interesting – and so […] Read more
Funniest show of the season, hands down. If you’d told me before the season started that I’d be sticking with Gokokoku no Brynhildr because it makes me laugh harder than any other series, there’s no way I’d have believed it. But that’s the case, no denying it – this show […] Read more
This episode certainly poses the age-old question – can you have too much of a good thing? My tolerance level with Isshuukan Friends is pretty high, in every respect. I take a lot from this series that I might not with most because I admire what the show is trying […] Read more
I think the part of the title that really matters here is the exclamation points. There’s just no denying Haikyuu – it’s one of the most insistent series I’ve watched in a long time, and I mean that in a good way. It rolls out of the garage in sixth […] Read more
Watching Baby Steps, I really understand how Hanashima-san felt at this moment. I want to play… If there’s anything I can say against Baby Steps, it’s that watching or reading Ei-chan experience the game of tennis fills me with the overwhelming desire to go out and play it myself right […] Read more
If you’re a sports anime fan – or just a fan of good anime, period – don’t you dare forget about Diamond no Ace. There’s a lot of flashy and substantial sports series out there demanding our attention at the moment, and at no time has Diamond no Ace ever […] Read more